Heritage breeds, CSAs, farmer’s markets, artisan cheese: farming is getting an injection of cool from farmers looking to change the face of agriculture in America.
Clean food, slow food, organic food, local food: the movements may be a small part of the agricultural giant, but their share is growing. Consumers are starting to pay attention. They want to know who grew their food, and with what, and how far did it have to travel in a refrigerated truck to get to the store. Getting food directly from a farmer used to be the way things were, and is now a luxury.
Some of these new models are part of the larger, direct-marketing business model that markets farm products to the local community. CSAs are common enough now that, with farmer’s markets, they can provide a farmer with financial sustainability through direct farmer to consumer sales.
Community building using this type of model, combined with the open access of social media, is bringing new life to small town and big city America. The ecommerce world, with peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms like Etsy, has opened a new market for agricultural products. Facebook is becoming a go-to business marketplace.
Many new farmers want to do good as well as make a living. Saving a heritage breed pig while direct-marketing pork to the local community is the sort of practice many young farmers want for themselves. But in order to succeed, they need education and support, especially to change a model that has been financially successful in the past and is a family tradition.
Modern Farmer supports some of these new models for agriculture.
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